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Has anyone ever actually bought one of these domain names? I tried to once. I had a good idea one day and wanted the domain name for it. It was a somewhat ou

Has anyone ever actually bought one of these domain names? I tried to once. I had a good idea one day and wanted the domain name for it. It was a somewhat out-of-the-blue idea, so I wasn't really expecting it to be taken, but it was and all the names somewhat close to it were taken as well. I went back to the original name I wanted and e-mailed the squatter asking how much he wanted, hoping it would only be in the low hundreds of dollars. He e-mailed me back asking for $6600. When I said that it was too high and I wasn't interested, I got a much less professional e-mail: "LAST 5.5 K Keep or find other domain name Bye" I said it was still too expensive, and got "LOL ... Bye" I went to the website that the e-mail was sent from and it was all Lorem Ipsum. When I went back to the domain name I wanted when I was writing this, it had a startup-y logo, a promise of something cool being built, and an invitation to follow the developers (a tech blog I had never heard of) on facebook or twitter. It was all sounding legitimate, and I was upset that someone else apparently had an idea that was probably similar to mine, until I started clicking the really random assortment of "sponsor" links (to medical and legal sites, which pay a lot for ads but which had no obvious connection to any idea that would be associated with the domain name) and some of them took me to more lorem ipsum sites. Very mysterious, and tremendously irritating.

serge2k 15y ago
a friend and I phoned about a domain for an idea we had. They wanted 25k. we hung up and laughed. Told other people, they laughed. At least we got a laugh.
garethsprice 15y ago
I've successfully negotiated a few domain purchases and unsuccessfully tried for a few more. All the unsuccessful ones are the professional squatters who won't take less than 4-figures - although they do regularly e-mail with lower and lower prices so never take the first offer from these guys. The successful purchases have all been from individuals who registered the domain at some point with an idea that they never developed. If it's useful to anyone, here's an example of the opening note I send (improvement suggestions welcome). I make an opening offer around 50-75% of what the actual maximum is, make note that the site is inactive and costing them money, make it clear we're considering other options but that we are ready to purchase quickly. Even if the purchase is for personal use I'll reference a "client" as it helps to have a man behind a curtain who just won't budge on his price. ----- Dear Sir/Madam, I see that you own DOMAIN.COM but are not currently using it for an active website. I am currently looking for a domain name for a client of mine, and your name (DOMAIN.COM) is on our short-list. We have budgeted around $250 for acquiring new domain names and my client looking to close a deal quickly. Please could you let me know if DOMAIN.COM is for sale, and if so what price?

serge2k 15y ago

a friend and I phoned about a domain for an idea we had. They wanted 25k. we hung up and laughed. Told other people, they laughed. At least we got a laugh.

garethsprice 15y ago

I've successfully negotiated a few domain purchases and unsuccessfully tried for a few more. All the unsuccessful ones are the professional squatters who won't take less than 4-figures - although they do regularly e-mail with lower and lower prices so never take the first offer from these guys. The successful purchases have all been from individuals who registered the domain at some point with an idea that they never developed. If it's useful to anyone, here's an example of the opening note I send (improvement suggestions welcome). I make an opening offer around 50-75% of what the actual maximum is, make note that the site is inactive and costing them money, make it clear we're considering other options but that we are ready to purchase quickly. Even if the purchase is for personal use I'll reference a "client" as it helps to have a man behind a curtain who just won't budge on his price. ----- Dear Sir/Madam, I see that you own DOMAIN.COM but are not currently using it for an active website. I am currently looking for a domain name for a client of mine, and your name (DOMAIN.COM) is on our short-list. We have budgeted around $250 for acquiring new domain names and my client looking to close a deal quickly. Please could you let me know if DOMAIN.COM is for sale, and if so what price?